County of city: White County
Location of city: Center in county; crossroads of IL-1 & IL-14; just south of I-64
County is in the SE corner of the state
Courthouse location: 301 E. Main Street, Carmi
Elevation: 387 ft (118 m)
Population: 5,208 (2013)
"The city of Carmi was founded in 1814, and incorporated in 1816. White County was organized from Gallatin County in 1815, and was named after Captain Leonard White, a Gallatin County legislator who is credited with the idea of extending the Illinois-Wisconsin border a few miles north of the southern tip of Lake Michigan. The first courthouse was in the cabin of John Craw." ~ White County Illinois Tourism
"The story of Carmi reveals itself to anyone standing on the steps of the 1883 White County Courthouse.
"To the east is the Little Wabash River, which first attracted settlers from Kentucky or Tennessee via Shawneetown in the period 1809-1814. Carmi is 15 miles west of New Harmony, Indiana, which was home to an group of Utopians, and is still a center for the arts. It is about 40 miles north of (Old) Shawneetown, Illinois' first settlement on the Ohio River. This town was largely abandoned after the 1937 Flood, but its 1840 bank building, badly in need of restoration, impresses travelers crossing the Illinois Route 13 bridge.
"The oldest house in town, originally a double-pen log cabin built in 1814, sets just beyond the city park. It was used as a courthouse when White County was founded in 1815, and Carmi was chartered in 1816. U.S. Senator James Robinson and his family lived in the home until the 1870s, when the Italianate home (the sketch below, used to honor the home in the fall of 1995) of descendant Frank Hay was finished across the street. After the collapse of Hay's bank in the panic of 1893, the family's fortunes declined and the Senator's granddaughter Mary Jane Stewart moved back into the sided cabin after 1901. On her death in 1966 she willed the home and its contents to the White County Historical Society, which maintains it as a house museum.
"Directly across from the Courthouse is "the Castle", an 1896 mixture of Richardsonian Romanesque, Eastlake Victorian, and fantasy architecture dominated by three turreted towers and strong limestone arches over brick. The home was built by Rep. James Robert ("Dollar Bob") Williams, who oversaw the construction of the Courthouse while serving as County Judge from 1882-1886. He served several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and spoke for his friend William Jennings Bryan in his presidential campaigns. Bryan and Harry Truman both made whistle-stop visits to Carmi during their presidential campaigns, in 1896 and 1948, respectively. Williams had the house designed by Knoxville, Tennessee architect George Franklin Barber, who sold plans by mail and had pre-cut woodwork shipped to wealthy homeowners in Washington, California and Texas. The home was almost destroyed in the 1980's, but local preservationists had the home placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and helped find buyers for the property. That's the Castle above.
"To the east of the Castle is the James Robert Ready building, a small office building built in 1940 to the design of the Ready family storefront of 1840. The new building was needed to allow the Williams family to manage its oil interests, which was discovered in White County in 1939. Carmi's population grew from 2,700 to 5,500 in a matter of years during the Illinois Basin oil boom, and is now about 6,500. Many of these residents came to Illinois from Oklahoma and Texas, where the oil business was already established.
" West of the city park are the 1828 Ratcliff Inn and the 1896 L. Haas Store, both maintained as museums. Abraham Lincoln stayed at "Old Beaver's" Ratcliff Inn in 1840 and spoke for the Whig Party at a rally at Carmi's western edge. Erwin Haas' cast-iron storefront reminds us that the early merchants of Carmi included several Jewish families who fled turmoil in German principalities in the 1860s. These structures, as well as the Robinson-Stewart home are on the National Register. The buildings are usually open sometimes in the spring and fall and for Corn Day. Tours are always available by appointment." ~ Carmi's History Page